George Seldes: Lies Agreed Upon (Part 13)

George Seldes (16 November 1890 - 2 July 1995) was an American investigative journalist and media critic. Andrew Russell Pearson (December 13, 1897September 1, 1969), known professionally as Drew Pearson, and born in Evanston, Illinois, was one of the most well-known American "yellow-"journalists of his day. He was best known for his muckraking syndicated newspaper column "Washington Merry-Go-Round," in which he attacked various public persons with little or no objective proof for his allegations. He also had a program on NBC Radio entitled Drew Pearson Comments. His parents were Paul Martin Pearson, an English professor at Northwestern University, and Edna Wolfe. When Pearson was six years of age, his father joined the faculty of Swarthmore College as professor of public speaking, and the family moved to Pennsylvania, joining the Society of Friends, with which the college was then affiliated. After being educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, Pearson attended Swarthmore (1915-1919), where he edited its student newspaper, The Phoenix. From 1919 to 1921, Pearson served with the American Friends Service Committee, directing post-war rebuilding operations in Peć, which was at that time part of Serbia. From 1921 to 1922, he lectured on the topic of Geography at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1923, Pearson travelled to Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia, India and Serbia, and persuaded several newspapers to buy articles about his travels. He was also commissioned by the American "Around the World Syndicate" to produce a set of interviews entitled, "Europe's Twelve Greatest Men." From 1925 to 1928, Pearson continued reporting on international events including strikes in China, the Geneva Naval Conference, the Pan-American Conference in Havana, and the signing of the Kellogg-Briand Pact in Paris. In 1929, he became the Washington correspondent for The Baltimore Sun. But in 1931 and 1932, with Robert S. Allen, he anonymously published a book called Washington Merry-Go-Round and its sequel. When the Sun discovered Pearson had co-authored these books, he was promptly fired. Late in 1932, Pearson and Allen secured a contract with the Scripps-Howard syndicate, United Features, to syndicate a column called "Washington Merry-Go-Round". It first appeared in Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson's Washington Herald on November 17, 1932. But as World War II escalated in Europe, Pearson's strong support of Franklin D. Roosevelt, in opposition to Patterson and the Herald's isolationist position led to an acrimonious termination of Pearson and Allen's contract with the Herald. In 1941, The Washington Post picked up the contract for the Washington Merry-Go-Round. Drew Pearson had one daughter, Ellen, in a short marriage (1925-28) to Felicia Gizycka, daughter of the newspaper scion Cissy Patterson and Count Joseph Gizycky of Poland. Thereafter, Pearson maintained a strained relationship with his former mother-in-law, and they frequently exchanged barbed comments in print. His second wife was Luvie Moore Abell, whom he married in 1936; they had no children together. Pearson died of a myocardial infarct (heart attack) in 1969, at age 71. The American Legion is a congressionally chartered mutual-aid veterans organization of the United States armed forces founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by the U.S. Congress. The American Legion was founded in 1919 by veterans returning from Europe after World War I, and was later chartered under Title 36 of the United States Code. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and also has offices in Washington D.C. The group has nearly 3 million members in over 14,000 Posts worldwide. In addition to organizing commemorative events and volunteer veteran support activities, the American Legion is active in U.S. politics. While its primary political activity is lobbying on the behalf of the interests of veterans and service members, including support for veterans benefits such as pensions and the Veterans Affairs hospital system, it has also been involved in more general political issues. At the state level, the American Legion is organized into "departments," which run annual civic training events for high school juniors called Boys State. Two members from each Boys State are selected for Boys Nation. The American Legion Auxiliary runs Girls State and Girls Nation. The American Legion also hosts many social events.